Student’s Perceptions of the Use of CBT for the Conduct of General Studies (GST) Examinations in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

The paper investigated the students’ perceptions of the use of CBT for the conduct of General Studies (GST) examinations in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The study employed a descriptive survey design. All the 5600 undergraduate students who sat for GST examinations during the 2019/2020 academic session formed the population of the study. The Israel Model (2013) was used to determine 372 students as the sample size for the study. An instrument titled "Students’ Perceptions of Writing CBT Examination" (SPWCBTE) was used for the data collection. The instrument was validated, a pilot study was conducted, and a reliability index of 0.95 was obtained. Results from the study revealed that the students have positive views on the CBT examinations. Some of the problems confronted by students during the examinations, as indicated by the results, include system errors, login issues, and the slow nature of the systems during submission. The study concluded that the students have positive views of the CBT examinations in the university. It was recommended that the university management should be organizing presentations and workshops to promote the CBT system. Majors should be taken to ensure quality assurance and control of the ICT facilities during and after the conduct of examinations.

Development of Critical Thinking Transfer Practice Construct and Sub-Constructs: A 9-steps Approach

The study aimed to develop critical thinking transfer practice (CTTP) construct and sub-constructs relevant to medical undergraduates. The study used a 9-step qualitative case study approach. The prior relationship of construct and sub-constructs were conceptualised to produce the initial thematic framework (Step 1 to 3). Then, a qualitative study confirmed the sub-constructs that were relevant for the undergraduates, as the new data were fitted into the initial framework to become an evolving framework (Step 4 to 5). Next, the construct and sub-constructs were defined operationally (Step 6) and evaluated (Step 7). After that, the evolving framework was revised (Step 8) and developed to become the final construct and sub-constructs (Step 9). Based on the literature, the study conceptualised an initial framework that described the theoretical relationship of the prior construct and six sub-constructs. From the qualitative findings, 37 codes were fitted into the initial framework. The fitting resulted in an evolving framework that contained a theme (the medical undergraduates’ CTTP), 6 categories and 26 sub-categories. A 100% of participants agreed that the data were generated from them. Then, the team members and the expert panels accepted the theme (Cohen Kappa value > 0.80). The maintained and revised theme, categories and sub-categories were used to develop the CTTP construct and 6 sub-constructs. The study discussed in detail the included subconstructs for CTTP. The study also addressed the similarities and differences of the construct and sub-constructs for medical education and general studies. The study concluded that the construct and sub-constructs were theoretically proven to represent the medical undergraduates’ CTTP.

The Influence of Cognitive Styles as Promoters of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Intrapreneurship as Drivers of Innovation: The Case of Pharmacy Professionals in Portugal

Innovation in the community pharmacy field has extreme importance in building customer loyalty and competitiveness and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, its value was even more noted. Thus, in this study, we aimed to assess the influence of cognitive styles (rational and intuitive) on individual entrepreneurial orientation and intrapreneurship and how they impact innovation. A questionnaire was applied to 209 community pharmacy professionals in Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic, and PLS-SEM was used to statistically analyze the data obtained. For the results, we perceived those cognitive styles’ (rational and intuitive) impact on individual entrepreneurial orientation and partially on intrapreneurship, and this innovation is explained by individual entrepreneurial orientation and intrapreneurship. For the theoretical implications, we have contributed to the advancement of knowledge by establishing and understanding the relationship between the different dimensions suggested and, at the practical level for management, we have perceived where to act at the individual level, to improve innovation and provide suggestions in the directions suggested here. This study is original and innovative because there are no general studies in the literature that have related all the dimensions addressed here, and there is little current research in the community pharmacy field.

Sospeso tra due mondi: il velo di San Giusto tra Bisanzio e Trieste

This article aims to a preliminary reassessment of the silk veil preserved in the Treasury of Trieste cathedral. The cloth is unparalleled in Byzantine as well in western medieval art, in that it is painted with tempera on both sides. It depicts a youthful martyr in a court costume, and bears an inscription that identifies the saint as St. Just. Since its alleged recovery from a reliquary in the early nineteenth century, the cloth has been often addressed by the scholars, who ascribed it either to a Byzantine or to a local master and dated it between the eleventh and the fourteenth century. Despite being referred to in several more general studies, it has been rarely considered individually. In this paper I address the many questions that the Trieste veil raises, including problems of chronology, provenance, function, and iconography. After careful observation and based on both primary sources and visual evidence, I argue that it was produced in Byzantium, possibly at an early date, to serve as a liturgical implement; later, it was brought to the West, where the saint was given a new identity and the cloth was reused as a banner after being painted on the reverse.

THE NEXUS BETWEEN LOGIC AND GENERAL STUDIES

Logic, a branch of philosophy, is essentially concerned with one’s ability to reason well. It provides structured rules and principles that act as guides for effective reasoning. As such the correctness or incorrectness of any kind of reasoning can easily be verified by subjecting them to logical techniques and methods. The paper conceptualises general studies as a set of prescribed courses available in a Nigerian tertiary institution, outside a student’s area of specialisation that must be registered for and passed, usually, in the first and second years of study. The essence is to ensure that students experience balanced, rounded education and to ensure that scholarship is made relevant to the pressing needs of the society. The paper locates the bond between logic and general studies based on the fact that logic permeates all the courses taught as General Studies and, indeed, all the courses taught in the university be it medicine, geography, architecture. In a knowledge-based environment, the need for effective communication is critical and inevitable. This means that both in the delivery of knowledge as well as its acquisition, care should be taken to avoid fallacious reasoning and deception by the slippery nature and use of words. It is for this reason that a rudimentary knowledge of logic is a prerequisite for every discipline. The paper adopts an analytical and comparative method. Philosophical analysis and reflection are applied in order to evaluate and highlight the importance of logic to other disciplines. Its comparative character helps to demonstrate why logic, and no any other discipline, is most suited to act as the foundation for all other disciplines. In all, the paper demonstrates that for effective teaching and learning to take place in other disciplines, logic is essential. It also underscores the strong nexus between logic and general studies. Finally, it shows how logic can help in enriching other disciplines.

Experiential Learning Through the Eyes of Emirati Students

General Studies courses are core to the whole education philosophy espoused in the United Arab Emirates. These courses provide a wider breadth of knowledge for students by fostering skills such as critical thinking, global awareness, research and communication. This paves the way for building the UAE’s knowledge base and delivering graduates who can compete globally through research and innovation. The research explores the role of experiential learning within General Studies to cultivate these key skills, and seeks to capture students’ responses to this type of learning. This is a mixed methods study that includes ethnographic data collection, uncovering the complexities of a lived classroom learning experience from the perspective of the students. Data was collected from interviews with students, written reflections and a Likert scale survey. Results suggest that Emirati female students respond favourably to experiential learning, thus countering previous findings about their preferred learning style. This study contributes significantly to a field with scant knowledge of experiential learning as a vehicle for instruction in a tertiary Emirati context. Key words: Experiential Learning, General Studies, Intercultural Learning,

Plume spreading test case for coastal ocean models

We present a test case of river plume spreading to evaluate numerical methods used in coastal ocean modeling. It includes an estuary–shelf system whose dynamics combine nonlinear flow regimes with sharp frontal boundaries and linear regimes with cross-shore geostrophic balance. This system is highly sensitive to physical or numerical dissipation and mixing. The main characteristics of the plume dynamics are predicted analytically but are difficult to reproduce numerically because of numerical mixing present in the models. Our test case reveals the level of numerical mixing as well as the ability of models to reproduce nonlinear processes and frontal zone dynamics. We document numerical solutions for the Thetis and FESOM-C models on an unstructured triangular mesh, as well as ones for the GETM and FESOM-C models on a quadrilateral mesh. We propose an analysis of simulated plume spreading which may be useful in more general studies of plume dynamics. The major result of our comparative study is that accuracy in reproducing the analytical solution depends less on the type of model discretization or computational grid than it does on the type of advection scheme.